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King Triton
King Triton is a major character from Disney's 28th full-length animated feature film, The Little Mermaid and a supporting character in its sequels. His character is somewhat similar to the Greek Mythology sea god, Poseidon. He was voiced by the late Kenneth Mars in the first two films and by Jim Cummings in the third film. Biograpghy Triton is the king of the underwater Kingdom of Atlantica. He is a huge merman, husband later widower of Queen Athena, and the father of seven daughters: Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, Alana and Ariel. He is also the father-in-law of Prince Eric and the grandfather of Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody. As King of Atlantica, he has in his possession a powerful magical trident which appears to be made of gold. It emits a glowing light and typical sound when in use. Furthermore he has a crown and two arm bracelets, which also appear to be made out of gold. His arch-enemy was Ursula, the old sea-witch who was once a senior member of the Court of King Triton. She has for many years been seeking a way to exact her revenge upon King Triton for banishing her from the kingdom and become queen of the ocean. The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea Triton appears in the sequel, The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea. He seems to trust humans — or at least his son-in-law, Eric — by the time of this film. Upon the birth of Ariel and Eric's daughter Melody, he attends a celebration of her birth that takes place at sea. As a gift, he gives Melody a special locket that reveals a picture of Atlantica. However, his love for his granddaughter proves to be a weakness, which is exploited by Morgana, Ursula's younger sister. Morgana attacks the ceremony, desiring to avenge Ursula, and demands Triton's trident in exchange for Melody's safety. While Ariel and Eric are able to foil Morgana's plot, Ariel makes the decision to withhold all knowledge of Atlantica and mermaids for Melody's safety, and Triton orders a search for Morgana and no one will rest until she is vanquished. A sea wall is put up around the kingdom, sadly cutting Triton off from his daughter and granddaughter. Twelve years later, Triton is met at sea by Eric and Ariel, who explains that Melody has gone missing. Triton transforms Ariel into a mermaid to assist in the search. Triton and Ariel eventually find Melody with Morgana. With Melody ignorant of her true heritage, Morgana had convinced the girl that Triton had stolen the trident from her. Melody had been transformed into a mermaid and tasked with retrieving the trident, as only Triton or one of his descendants could remove it from its resting place. Despite Ariel's protests, Melody gives the trident to Morgana, resulting in an epic battle. Eventually, Triton is able to retrieve his trident after Melody steals it back, and then throws it to him. Triton states that neither Morgana or her family will threaten his ever again before using the trident to freeze Morgana in a block of ice, which sinks to the bottom of the sea. He then offers to allow Melody to become a mermaid permanently. However, she instead requests that he remove the sea wall, reuniting the humans and the merpeople. The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning In the prequel film, an opening prologue shows King Triton's wife, Queen Athena. The pair had a loving relationship. However, Athena was crushed to death by a pirate ship while trying to save the music box King Triton gave her as an anniversary present. Triton was so broken-hearted by her death that he banned music from Atlantica and forced everyone—even himself—to follow a strict daily schedule and it was the possible reason why he hated humans. Ariel's free-spirited personality is what casts a strain on their relationship in this film too, and he is particularly angered when he discovers that the leader of the (illegal) Catfish Club is, in fact, Sebastian, throwing his confidante into prison for this. He eventually comes to see the error of his harsh decisions, pardons Sebastian, lifts the ban on music and appoints Sebastian as his court composer at the end of the film. In the film, Jim Cummings took over as the voice of Triton since his original voice actor Kenneth Mars was unavailable at that time due to health problems - Mars died three years after the prequel film's release. Other appearances King Triton made a few cameos in the series House of Mouse. In "Jiminy Cricket", he was seen sitting alongside Rafiki, Grandmother Willow, and Merlin the Wizard. In "Salute to Sports", when Mickey said he wanted the audience to do the wave, Triton summoned an actual wave. In "Pete's House of Villains", Ursula was in charge at the reservation desk and refused to let Triton in the club. Instead, she morphed him into a polyp again. King Triton made a small cameo appearance in The Princess and the Frog as a float in Charlotte's and "Naveen"'s (Lawrence in disguise) Mardi Gras wedding. Trivia The death of King Triton's wife, Queen Athena, may be the reason why he forbade Ariel and his other daughters from interacting with humans in the original film. In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, it seems that Triton's overprotectiveness came to Ariel, his daughter, as both of them forbade from their daughters (Ariel in Triton's case, and Melody in Ariel's case) to do something they wanted (Going up to the surface in Triton's case, and Going to the sea in Ariel's case). However, both Triton and Ariel did this to protect their daughters from a danger (Human who might kill Ariel in Triton's case, and Morgana in Ariel's case). A theory among Disney fans is that King Triton, alongside his daughters (including Ariel) are related to Hercules. King Triton confirms that Poseidon is his father in one of the episodes of the animated series, and if true, would make him cousins with Hercules, whose father is Zeus whose brother is Poseidon. However, it is not confirmed whether or not the disney incarnation of Poseidon is fact his father as Hercules is set roughly 3000 years before The Little Mermaid. However this can also be countered by the fact that King Triton is technically a god and thus is immortal. Category:Characters Category:The Little Mermaid characters Category:Males Category:Humans Category:Mermaids Category:Kings Category:Royaltys Category:Fathers Category:Heroes Category:Parents Category:Grandfathers Category:Leaders Category:Protectors Category:Pessimists Turned Optimists Category:Mythology Category:Wise characters Category:Disney characters